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Saturday, April 5, 2014

DIY Chalk Paint {recipe}

Lately, instead of enjoying movies or going out for date nights, my husband and I have been busy redoing furniture. Sounds fun right? I actually really enjoy it! There may or may not have been stripper involved... that is liquid stripper, to remove chipping paint on our current furniture project. There have been wayyy to many bad stripper jokes around here, I just couldn't help it ;-) Anyways, what led us to redo a whole bedroom suite for Emmie's room? This chair, and an awesome chalk paint recipe that I'm going to share with you today.

So if you are like I was, and are afraid to make your own, don't feel intimidated. It is super simple to make and just about the best paint to work with (in my opinion). I love that there isn't much prep work involved, at least not much unless the piece has chipping paint all over it... {insert cheesy stripper joke}. So if you want to save some $$, get a custom color, or just want to do it yourself, you've got to try this chalk paint recipe, y'all. I was really skeptical with all of these DIY chalk paint recipes out there. I actually almost ran out to buy some Annie Sloan, but Jamie's mom saved the day, and by saving the day, I mean saved me about $100 in paint and brushes. She had been experimenting with chalk paint recipes after falling in love with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and wanting to save a few dollars. So she shared her favorite recipe with me. Since our first project, we have tweaked the recipe a bit, based on this awesome blog post comparing the big four recipe's out there. Because Debbie's favorite recipe just didn't seem to be the exact finish that I wanted, I added a bit more of the 'chalk', and am loving the results.

I used Martha Stewart's Sunken Pool, in an egg-shell finish for the latex paint. I just love how smoothly this recipe went on. It took 3 super thin coats, because I watered down the paint as I went. And no, I didn't go the wax route. I stained over top of the chalk paint with some english chestnut stain and applied some clear urethane to protect it. It changed the color from a light blue to more of an aged turquoise, highlighting all of the details in the chair. I couldn't be happier with the results! Since it is a chair, I knew it would get some heavy use, and I wasn't sure how the wax would hold up.

Jamie & Lydia posted about this desk and this dresser, so be sure to check out what they had to say about chalk paint and their experiences! Since I'm really a nube chalk painter and have never actually never tried the boutique brands, I really did some research and thought this post has some great info. Stay tuned to see Emmie's room makeover with her newly chalk painted furniture... I cannot wait to share!

2 comments:

LOVE this!! I didn't know you could make your own chalk paint! Definitely the route to go, I'm sure it's much cheaper this way. Where do you find calcium carbonate? Thanks for sharing this with us! Pinned to the party board and my craft board for future reference. :)

Jill I'm so happy to see this post. I have been too afraid to mix my own chalk paint but tired of how much I;ve been paying for ready made. Thanks for this recipe - I need to try this so I pinned it.Marie@The Interior Frugalista